Explore the vast range of titles available.

A Gilbert & Sullivan parody about gay sailors serving in their own separate Navy? On paper, the concept sounds fluffy at best, more like a glorified comedy sketch than a full-blown show. Put aside your initial reservations, however, and you're likely to find \"Pinafore!\" at the Celebration Theatre a double-edged treat. Among this exceptional cast, the most considerable performance of the evening is given by R. Christofer Sands as Joseph-Josephine, the captain's transvestite son. Josephine has fallen in love with Dick Dockstrap (Christopher Andrew Hall), a common sailor who is--gasp!-- ostensibly straight. In a sly skewing of the original plot, Josephine and Dick's warring sexual orientations pose a far greater problem to their union than mere class differences. But, dressed in frilly female attire though Sands is, his is no mere drag routine. (Not that there aren't some typically outrageous drag performers spliced into the chorus.)

'H.M.S. Pinafore' *** Light Opera Works kicks off its season with a show as sweet and pleasing to the palate as a dish of ice cream at a garden party: \"H.M.S. Pinafore,\" Gilbert and Sullivan's 1878 tale of romance and class conflict on the high seas.

The Savoy operas have casts that are virtually interchangeable, as Anna Russell observed. The little patter song baritone in \"Pinafore\" is Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B.; Stephen Brien portrayed him with the dry vocal tone and dry humor appropriate to the part. Soprano Elizabeth Hillebrand brought a pretty voice and person and a wicked sense of fun to the role of Josephine, the captain's daughter. She was well-matched with tenor Andrew MacPhail, who sang beautifully and looked right in the part of Ralph Rackstraw, the able seaman who loves her. As Captain Corcoran, Edward Prostak exhibited good comic timing, but his Act II aria was not up to snuff vocally. Little Buttercup (this opera's great fat contralto) was broadly portrayed by Angela Smith. Louis Dall'Ava's Dick Deadeye made the most of his comic opportunities.

Thus the door was opened for a legion of swing \"Mikados,\" doubtful \"Iolanthes,\" pop-infested \"Pirates of Penzance\" and -- get ready -- a version of \"H.M.S. Pinafore\" wherein Little Buttercup has become Bitter Butterball, all the sailors are gay, and much ado ensues about whether a fleet of drag queens should to be allowed to join the Queen's Navy.

It is also a vehicle for some vintage Gilbertian satire on class and politics (what else?), centring on Sir Joseph Porter, the landlubbing First Lord of the Admiralty. At the Savoy, Sam Kelly's well-judged, sneakily comic performance makes him inept but not completely harmless. The rest of the cast is more than decent, too. Tom McVeigh is the supercilious Captain and Alison Rae Jones sings sweetly as Josephine, although she is inclined to push her voice too hard. Della Jones, who brings few traces of her former operatic tones to Buttercup, nevertheless knows how to hold the stage. Sophie- Louise Dann turns in an unrelentingly comic turn as Porter's spinsterly cousin, supported by a twittering, tweedy bevy of aunts and nieces.

Still, [Gilbert] and [Sullivan]'s work isn't everyone's cup of tea, with fussy little plots, cartoon characters and operatic singing. Credit, therefore, must be given to the Arlington Players for producing a straightforward version of \"H.M.S. Pinafore\" that its authors would recognize and enjoy. It's a ridiculous tale of forbidden love and mistaken identities that Gilbert wrote as an assault on the class snobbery he saw in the English social system of his day. Despite the serious theme, \"H.M.S. Pinafore\" is filled with Sullivan's lively melodies and Gilbert's witty lyrics, which director Malcolm Edwards presents in a visually rich and smoothly moving production. Socially ambitious Captain Corcoran of the Pinafore wants to marry his daughter, Josephine, to Admiral Sir Joseph Porter, a pompous aristocrat with populist pretensions, even though she and a lowly seaman named Ralph Rackstraw are in love. Josephine is willing to submit to her father's wishes, but a local peddler woman named Buttercup steps in to proclaim that things may not be what they seem. Notions of rank and privilege are tweaked; characters exchange places; and in true Gilbert and Sullivan form, love conquers all. Director Edwards has seen to it that the love songs are played straight, while the rest of the show is imbued with a sophisticated sense of humor.

The cast was uneven, but \"Pinafore\" can survive this as long as it gets a good performance from the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., and this production had a wonderful one in Stephen Quint, whose timing and antics lit up the stage from the moment he made his first appearance. Kimilee Bryant's clear, high soprano and heart-on- sleeve persona were ideal for Josephine. Angela Smith's Buttercup was vivid while at center stage but needed to be more of a reactive presence from the sidelines, and Victoria Devany was a delightfully annoying Cousin Hebe.

At Pinafore, your kids can throw cushions at the actors with impunity, to steal one of Gilbert's favorite words, and yet the seniors in the group can enjoy a bit of a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, rather than being stuck with \"Hansel and Gretel.\"

It involves [H. M. S. Pinafore]'s commander Captain Corcoran, who hopes to raise his status by a marriage between Admiral Sir Joseph Porter ('the ruler of the Queen's navee') and his daughter, Josephine. She is loved by a humble sailor Ralph Rackstraw, but in the strict class system [Gilbert] satirizes, that relationship is doomed. - Burlington actress Gail Edwards, who was recently producer of Theatre Burlington's A Night in the Theatre, now has the title role in Players Guild's production of Jenny's House Of Joy by Norm Foster. - A rewarding way to celebrate upcoming Mother's Day is by taking in the Burlington Art Centre's Mother's Day Tea on May 9. There are sittings at 2 and 4 p. m. and, throughout the afternoon, mom, or anyone else, can enjoy the fun of a raffle, bid on silent auction items, see the latest spring fashions from Jus B' Gauze, and visit a psychic and handwriting analyst.